Some apps use trackers, which can give personal information to Facebook, Google, or other Amazon.On your smartphone, perhaps you have already downloaded what is called a cycle tracking application. Each month, you carefully record the dates of your menstruation, and other intimate details. According to a report by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) , these small programs would present “many problems regarding the use of personal data”, as well as “security breaches”. Explanations.

Trackers, geolocation and information stores

Problem: these applications would not all be irreproachable in terms of protection of personal data . According to EFF, which has conducted the investigation about twenty applications, many of these small programs indeed contain trackers, which would allow Google , Facebook and Amazon (among others) to know which applications you use, ” and sometimes more detailed information “, like the IMEI of your mobile. A number that can be used to “stalk your phone permanently”, even if you initialize it.

Added to this is the fact that some applications (Pinkpad, Baby Bump) automatically send your geolocation (accurate) to a server, as soon as you connect. Others, keep your photos even after you delete them, or collect every word you type in the application in your SD card, leaving this information visible to any application that also has access to that space.

Specifically, many of these features exist in other applications. Not enough to be completely paranoid, then. However, given the nature of the information you share here, it’s best to keep this in mind. This, especially since the EFF has also pointed the finger of many security vulnerabilities.